London venues and events

It is such a lovely email to receive when we get a notification from Google that says there’s another 5 star review on the web. This one from Amy and Heechan’s wedding at Dickens Inn St Katherine Dock and Tower Bridge came in just yesterday. Thank you so much, it’s one greatest of the rewards of being a wedding photographer. It’s appeared on both Google and Hitched, and here it is:

“For other couples waiting for their wedding ceremony out there, we think we did the “hard job” of researching photographers for you. Just go straight to the website and message Joanna and David. Thank you so much both of you for your prompt replies from the beginning to considerate phone calls to build up to what was simply a dream come true! Your dedication, enthusiasm, creativity, attention to detail, knowledge of the area around the ceremony, stamina, patience seen in each of the thousand pictures blew our mind away. The ones you chose to put effects into were perfect! We particularly loved the way you both had ideas around the venue/surroundings and took turns to take leads – please keep this up the photos say the same! Thank you for all your hard work we really appreciate them and shame we can’t give anything more than 5 out of 5. All the very best, Heechan and Amy”

We thought it would be interesting to occasionally blog about the stories behind some of our recent images. To be honest we don’t write blog posts about every wedding we do, because after shooting and meticilously editing the weddings, travelling and aiming to occasionally have a family life too, there’s not a lot of time left! So we see this as a good way to do a mini post. There are thirty out of forty weddings from this year we haven’t and won’t write about for those reasons. Google won’t love us as much for less frequent updates, but we like to think our couples appreciate the extra attention their wedding’s gets before and afterwards.

It’s a documentary image shot by myself David. We had been caught in traffic in a huge stretch limo hired by the couple with rather a lot of champagne flowing. People were pretty merry by the time we arrived, no bad thing on a wedding day! My intention had been to shoot the wedding party from various angles as they made their way to the Eye, but because we were running late these guys shot ahead. Not a problem though because I had in my imagination a similar idea of perspective to capture the couple from at some point. I took three shots and liked this one the best, mainly because of the bride and groom’s position in relation to the wheel, and by this time the wedding party had also spontaneously began to link arms.

I converted to black and white because I felt that emphasised their linking arms shape and that of the wheel and clouds. The couple naturally got all three version in original colour and black and white. I’m glad I declined the champagne in the limo myself though, otherwise who knows what this shot would have been like!

Lorna and Andy booked us as their South Farm wedding photographers almost two years before their big day, so we had plenty of time to get to know them a little better and plan our approach. Sometimes I feel that couples when they find us on an internet search think that we only specialise in Central London as we feature it heavily, but actually although we naturally love the capital, a great deal of our work is also around the home counties too. Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Essex are counties we are frequently photographing in and there aren’t many venues that we don’t have previous experience with.

What we love about South Farm is the fact that they have really understood the value of having a variety of locations for the elements of a wedding day. They have a dedicated bridal suite and rooms for the groomsmen, and a fantastic main house, but that’s just the beginning. There are beautiful and various crafted gardens, authentic attractions like their vintage painted Romany and Showman’s caravans, and separate spaces for ceremony, reception and dancing. The old Tudor barn is particularly great to host the evenings’ celebrations. While there are outside and inside spaces for the ceremony depending on preference and the weather of course. There are also areas incorporated from the working farm itself, and for bride and groom they can meet the baby piglets too, more on that later…

Our coverage began with Lorna’s bridal prep in the dedicated suite, and Andy and best man in the groomsmen’s rooms. As usual I (David) flitted between everyone and everything, good exercise! October allowed the couple to plan for a halloween theme too, so it was fun to see all the pumpkins lining the aisle as I made my way through room after room documenting all the time and effort the couple had put into their preparations. That’s one of the main jobs of a wedding photographer to take a permanent quality record of those important little and big touches, as well as all those magic people moments too.

Particularly moving for me was seeing Lorna’s father push through the discomfort of some mobility issues to join her half way down the aisle and lead her to Andy. Priceless forever moments.

A lovely heart felt ceremony was followed by confetti and a drinks reception with plenty of entertainment provided by remarkable magician Lee Smith. He personally showed me a couple tricks later in the day and I was quite literally astounded – highly recommended.

We used this time to take the couple around the venue for some shots just of themselves. I particularly enjoyed the farm part, and I will always remember this particular South Farm wedding day for the “accident” one of the little piglets had on Lorna’s wedding dress! I was tempted to include a photo of that but… Anyhow a wet wipe and Lorna’s good humoured approach made sure that wasn’t a big issue for the rest of the day.

We do a great variety of weddings in many different venues, but one thing that really struck me was how well South Farm has catered for a couple’s big day, from facilitates and locations, to the great attitude of the staff. I’m personally really looking forward to returning there soon. Next time I would like to see one of my good friends in the wedding business Martin Family of Special Occasion Videos working along side us as he has many times, and I know he is very experienced at South Farm.

The evening itself was rounded off with the wedding breakfast in the Tudor Barn, and dancing and boogying in the beautifully restored Horse Barn complete with impressive partial glass floors.

It’s great to have the variety of working around the home counties and London itself, but it’s lovely to work close to where we live occasionally too! This Barnet wedding day was on a Saturday and followed a busy week of weddings on consecutive days Thursday and Friday. It’s nice to be busy but in all honesty I wanted this Saturday off, but when I met Lucy and Peter I couldn’t say no, they were just so lovely!

These guys choose their local church St Mary the Virgin at Monken Hadley on the outskirts of High Barnet which over the last ten years we have photographed at many times. The site itself has had a religious building on it for hundreds of years but the present church dates from roughly 1494.

It sits in a beautiful churchyard and is near to Hadley Woods and Hadley Common. This is an area we often walk through with the kids or dogs or both! Lucy and Peter know and love it too, so it was natural to go to this nearby walkable area for their couple shots.

Their wedding reception followed at Hadley Golf Club which I went to on my own to do room shots and general reportage for a while, and then waved everyone goodbye as they sat down for their wedding breakfast. I was pleased for the new bride and groom because not only did they get photographed in one of their favourite places, but contrary to the weather forecast the sun shone for them all day long.

After the big day they wrote us a lovely google review which you can read below: “AMAZING WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHERS”

“After trawling through dozens of photographers for our wedding, we chose David and Joanna and were not disappointed. We were attracted by their style and the bonus of having two photographers to ensure all angles were covered. We booked David and Joanna immediately after our first phone call enquiry – there was no need to keep looking. David’s humour as well as knowledge and professionalism made us feel at ease. We felt that David’s relaxed and humorous personality suited our personalities and that of our family and friends. We wanted a relaxed, family atmosphere and felt David and Joanna would suit that perfectly. We had an amazing engagement shoot at Alexander Palace. David gave us valuable tips for taking the perfect shot which we used on our wedding day. The photos were beautiful! Communication with David and Joanna was excellent. We had a call with David before the wedding to discuss all details of the day including the schedule and any specific shots we wanted. David brought up things about the day that we hadn’t even considered which helped us to make sure our day ran smoothly (we’ve never planned a wedding before so it was great to get insight from someone who has been to so many!). On the wedding day, David and Joanna didn’t disappoint. They were professional, timely and brought their humour and friendly personalities. When appropriate e.g. during the service, David and Joanna were discreet and nonintrusive. When needed, David and Joanna did a great job of rounding up family and directing group shots. We’ve seen some preview shots and are they are beautiful! We can’t wait to see the others. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend David and Joanna! Thank you for helping to make our day special and to run smoothly!”

Delighted to receive this Google review from Sam and Marcus’s very recent wedding at St George’s Cathedral London and Belair House Dulwich. Gives a good insight into the process of choosing a wedding photographer.

Here’s the written text of Samantha’s review itself:

“After trawling through dozens of photographers for our wedding, we chose David and Joanna and were not disappointed. We were attracted by their style and the bonus of having two photographers to ensure all angles were covered. We booked David and Joanna immediately after our first phone call enquiry – there was no need to keep looking.

David’s humour as well as knowledge and professionalism made us feel at ease. We felt that David’s relaxed and humorous personality suited our personalities and that of our family and friends. We wanted a relaxed, family atmosphere and felt David and Joanna would suit that perfectly. We had an amazing engagement shoot at Alexander Palace. David gave us valuable tips for taking the perfect shot which we used on our wedding day. The photos were beautiful!

Communication with David and Joanna was excellent. We had a call with David before the wedding to discuss all details of the day including the schedule and any specific shots we wanted. David brought up things about the day that we hadn’t even considered which helped us to make sure our day ran smoothly (we’ve never planned a wedding before so it was great to get insight from someone who has been to so many!).

On the wedding day, David and Joanna didn’t disappoint. They were professional, timely and brought their humour and friendly personalities. When appropriate e.g. during the service, David and Joanna were discreet and nonintrusive. When needed, David and Joanna did a great job of rounding up family and directing group shots. We’ve seen some preview shots and are they are beautiful! We can’t wait to see the others. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend David and Joanna! Thank you for helping to make our day special and to run smoothly!”

By David Green

David & Joanna

A Final Word

Over ten years as UK & London wedding photographers, and loving every minute of it!